The Sindh High Court ordered that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party chief must appear in the court with his counsel at the next hearing.
The MQM filed the defamation suit against the cricketer-turned-politician after he alleged that MQM chief Altaf Hussain was responsible for the killing of PTI member Zehra Shahid who was gunned down outside her house in May 2013.
PTI activist Shahid was killed on the eve of re-polls in Karachi's NA-250 constituency.
The MQM in its defamation suit had demanded that the PTI chief should tender an apology for levelling baseless allegations against Hussain.